Bethlehem: the end of the school year at the Terra Sancta College

Wednesday 30 May marked the end of the school year at the Terra Sancta College of Bethlehem, with the awarding of diplomas to final-year students.

The Terra Santa Boys School is a very important element in the overall educational system of the Palestinian Territories. The Franciscan-managed school welcomes 1,020 students, both Christians and Muslims, and offers an excellent example of living together peacefully, and of education as a means of promoting mutual understanding between Christians and Muslims.

ATS pro Terra Sancta is providing support to the children and youths who attend the Franciscan school through two projects:

− in collaboration with the AVSI Foundation, the project entitled “Supporting emergency education in the Palestinian Autonomous Territories”, financed by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, whose principal objective is to foster the gradual and controlled growth of children with family difficulties, assisting them to better define their own identity in this particularly delicate phase of their development, and also providing support to families to overcome the difficulties they face and, where possible, facilitating the reintegration of their children.

− in collaboration with the San Zeno Foundation, the project “Together at school, against difficulty”, whose primary objective is to stimulate adolescent self-determination, and encourage improved academic performance and reintegration of youths in society. The heart of the project is indeed the full reintegration of the youths within Palestinian society, encouraging through remedial teaching an improvement as well in their sense of well-being and in their interpersonal relationships.

The works that have been carried out have certainly established the bases for development of all of those who have been involved: the children, families, teachers and schools participating in the project.

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